demanding a red line on iran israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu urges the international community to stop iran from developing a nuclear weapon. when president obama calls him today, what will he say? and one of america's most enduring mysteries. could be closer to being solved. police follow a new tip and start digging this morning. will they find the body of jimmy hoffa? it's friday, september 28th. "starting point" begins right now. morning. welcome everybody, our starting point this morning is a hero's welcome for the real nfl referees. fans in baltimore gave them a standing ovation, ahead of last night's ravens/browns game. the replacements just one day after the league and referees union agreed on a new eight-year contract. nischelle turner is live in los angeles. they loved them at least at the very beginning. how did it go? >> four minutes they loved them for, soledad.

you know, it didn't take long for the boos to come out. it wasn't because of bad calls or calls that fans thought were wrong. it was because, you know, when you have the home team and you make a call against the home team, fans don't tend to like that. the refs, the real regular refs did get that standing ovation. here's one of the calls in the third quarter about seven minutes in, a helmet-to-helmet hit call. they really heard the boos then. i was kind of taking notes while watching the game last night. one of the things i wrote down, it's kind of hard to look at the refs when you're watching on television. but that really is a good thing. because one of the benchmarks to see if they did do a good job was if you don't notice that they're there. and you really didn't notice that was there. there was a better flow of the game last night. so they seem to have done a pretty good job for the first time in four weeks. >> i completely agree with your assessment. if you're not talking about how the refs did, probably it was all good. nischelle turner, thank you for

the update. one labor dispute is settled, another one is dragging on. formal labor talks resume today between nhl owners and players. it's been more than two weeks since the two sides talked. too late to save the preseason. the league has canceled the remainder of its exhibition games. the regular season in jeopardy, too, if they can't figure out how to split $3.3 billion in revenues. skron berman, it's always about the money. >> always about the money. hope you're feeling better. >> thank you, i am. >> hope you're not contagious. >> less than i was when i was here on tuesday. i appreciate it. >> let's give you some news right now. the bomb moo administration has concluded that terrorists clearly planned the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi that killed ambassador chris stevens and three other americans. leon panetta says there are still many unanswered questions. >> as to who was involved, were specific groups involved, i think the investigation that is ongoing hopefully will determine that. >> meanwhile the state department says it is removing staff from the embassy in

tripoli due to security concerns. the man behind the innocence of muslims, that film that sparked outrage in the muslim world, is in jail this morning in los angeles. nakoula basseley nakoula is being held on alleged parole violations. court records show he used at least 17 fake names, including one he used while making the film. in addition an actress in that movie is suing nakoula for copy right violation. president obama is expected to pick up a phone and place a call to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu today. this will be the first time the two leaders have spoken since the september 11th attack on the u.s. consulate in libya. netanyahu has been pressuring the president to handle the nuclear threat from iran by drawing a red line. now the president so far has not obliged. so israeli prime minister drew his own red line yesterday with the entire world watching. >> where should a red line be drawn? a red line should be drawn right

here. . before, before iran completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment. necessary to make a bomb. >> netanyahu warned it would be too late to stop iran from making a nuclear bomb if something isn't done before next summer. police are trying to figure out why a gunman went on a deadly rampage inside a minneapolis sign company. the death toll rising this morning. the shooting killing four people before turning the gun on himself. it happened around 4:30 yesterday afternoon at the accent signage systems building on the north side of minneapolis. the shooter has not been identified. the band at texas southern university has been suspended as the school investigates possible hazing. the university taking action after a student who isn't in the band reported excessive paddling involving members of the trumpet section. tsu police are interviewing the

band's director, staff, and members narrowed down just exactly what happened. no word on how many band members may be involved. and thank goodness, another snl election special thursday last night. it wasn't -- it was president obama stumping in ohio, and talking jobs. >> who here has a job? okay. there we go. there we go. what do you do sir? >> i'm a manager at burger king. >> there you go! having it your way. and where were you four years ago? probably working the counter, right? >> i was a vice president for bank of america. >> there you go. >> he does such a good job. >> such a good job. >> going to be an interesting couple of weeks. all right, thanks, john. appreciate it. president obama, the real president obama, is going to be campaigning in d.c. today. and a new memo that's been obtained by cnn shows that the romney campaign is apparently trying to lower expectations for the presidential debate.

the first debate, of course is on wednesday. and in that memo romney adviser beth myers tells campaign surrogates there are several reasons that she believes the president will be likely to win the first debate, including this reason. here's a quote. this will be the eighth one-on-one presidential debate of his political career. for mitt romney, it will be his first. let's get right to congressman tim murphy, republican from pennsylvania. he's a romney campaign surrogate. nice to see you, sir. thank you for talking with us, appreciate it. >> good morning. good to be with you. >> thank you. i'm always very concerned on both sides in the campaign when they start saying really nice things about each other. everybody's been complimenting the other person's ability to do debates and highlighting the experience, and the -- the intrinsic ability they have. all of that, to me, goes to what this panel is, this memo is saying, excuse me. do you think that's true that mitt romney comes into this as the underdog? >> well, i think that whether the person -- if it's a personality contest, i hope we can get beyond that and start talking about the policies. the policies are ones where i

hope that governor romney is able to point out the things that president obama has said that, if the economy doesn't get better, if jobs don't get better, he doesn't deserve a second term. we still have those issues in ohio and pennsylvania, where although ohio has improved some of its unemployment, we still have concerns about manufacturing, about steel, about health care issues, about energy, which are grave concerns in both of those states. and they have to be addressed by both candidates. >> right. and this memo, by beth myers, senior adviser, highlights some of that which you just said. but she says things like, he's a universally acclaimed public speaker, he has substantial debate experience, he's a uniquely gifted speaker. all speaking about president obama. the memo goes on to say that he's been in eight presidential debates compared to -- which i guess would be five with hillary clinton and three with -- with john mccain. but this, of course, would be the very first debate for -- for governor romney. the cynic in me says this memo

is really all about lowering expectations. because if you can lower expectations, whoever beats a low expectation will be the -- the -- seemingly the winner. is that true? >> well, you know, we have televised debates. you have a couple levels of that. you have people who are going to talk about how someone looked, how their makeup looked. remember with nixon it was about how he sweated. with george bush it was about looking at his watch. it's about someone's eye contact with the camera. but what this really still has to come down to is reminding voters what we're facing. and if we continue to import oil, and fund opec and send our soldiers to defend opec oil fields and lose our blood and treasure there, that's a concern. if we talk about the problems with china and the manipulating their currency and that affecting our manufacturing, that's a concern. it's about the cost of health care rising, about government's role in health care, those are concerns. and whoever looks nice in these things or talks nice doesn't matter so much as what the substance and the takeaway is. because the next morning people are still going to be concerned

around their kitchen table, what affects american families. are their kids going to have a future? do they have jobs? is their economy growing -- >> i get that. but also, as you know, the whole point of televised debate, there is a measure of how did you look? how did you seem? did you seem presidential? did you seem aggressive? did you seem like the underdog? did you -- did you flub? did you stutter? all those things, too, in addition to the specifics of policy and the actual facts that will be discussed, are also important. right? >> well, soledad, i think it means a lot to people on television. i worked in television for many years, too. certainly that is the chatter that many times people want to bring up to the public. it still comes down to this point of what did someone say, not just how did they look. this isn't election for the prom king. this is an election for president of the united states -- >> right, no, and i would agree with you on that and that's not what i'm saying so i'll stop you there if i can. i agree with you on that. i'm not saying how you look, i guess you would say how you can command and navigate a debate is, might be equally as

important to the specifics of what you're saying. which is not quite how you look. >> well, but it has to do with, look, when president obama was elected, he got elected on a blank slate, or see in me what you want to see in me. then what happened was, what he saw was tax increases and growth of government, joblessness remaining high for 43 months, are big concerns. that is what people want to think about. and quite frankly, i think that if all the media will talk about in these presidential debates is how someone looked and did they have their shoulders high, et cetera, that's a glamour contest. when i talk to families they want to know what does this mean for our kids? what does this mean for us and jobs? and that's going to be the big takeaway. the substance later on, not just how someone appeared presidential, but are their policies what america needs? and that's going to be the key takeaway from this. >> as you well know after these debates the media goes through and assesses not just how that person was able to navigate the debate, but also the content of

their composure and what they said and does a lot of fact checking. i think it's a little unfair as to spin it that the media analyzes only the glamour contest and not the substance. i think that's a little unfair. i want to read to you something -- >> that's what you asked of me. so i responded. >> no, i hear you. peggy noonan, "wall street journal" op-ed, people think mr. romney's rich doesn't understand regular people's lives. they're not sure he can turn things around. he has to prove he's a pair of safe hands. so, without going into the, the talking points, why is he -- is that going to be a challenge for mitt romney to prove he's a pair of safe hands? how does he do that? >> well, mitt romney, i think, by talking about his job as a family and where paul ryan is, caring about america and also with his family, are important connections between them and the american people. i think with regard to connecting with creating jobs for families, and looking at those things, that that's where it really comes down to, look

rat mothers and fathers and grandparents in the eye and say there is a future here for you. that will be a comparison between the policies of president obama and governor romney on this. >> i think you're right on that strategy. representative tim murphy, republican from the state of pennsylvania. it's nice to see you, sir. thank you for talking with us this morning. >> great to see you, too. have a great day. still ahead on "starting point," will a new tip lead to finding jimmy hoffa's body today? police are about to start digging. one man who studied the case for 37 years and has talked to the tipster says he's doubtful. he'll tell us why coming up next. and armed thieves storm a jewelry store. take a look at these pictures. all demand that the customers get on the ground. the entire thing caught on tape. we'll tell you what happened. jack, you're a little boring. boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring.

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for 37 years it's been a question without an answer. whatever happened to jimmy hoffa. just a few hours police are going to begin drilling under the driveway of a home in roseville, michigan. it's where a tipster claims he saw a body being buried right around the time that jimmy hoffa disappeared back in 1975. cnn's susan candiotti is live for us in roseville, michigan this morning. what can you tell us about the tipster and the digging, susan. good morning. >> good morning, soledad. well, doesn't everyone love a mystery? and certainly police would like to solve it as much as anyone else would. in particular the chief says for the hoffa family, and for the teamsters. here's what we can tell you about the tipster. he's someone who came forward after all this time because he said he believes that he saw what could have been a body buried beneath the driveway that you can see over my shoulder. is it jimmy hoffa? who knows. is it really someone buried? they don't know. but they have to try to check this out. there's a heavy dose of

skepticism among a lot of retired fbi agents who directly worked on this case saying why in the world would the mob have buried someone in the middle of this nice neighborhood, why would they have done that? they believe that whoever got rid of hoffa incinerated his body, literally, years and years ago. but there is a quick mob connection here. a bookie for detroit mobster john giacalone did used to live in this house years ago so maybe they'll follow through with this lead. 2006, i was 40 miles away from here when the fbi followed up another what they called credible lead and dug up a horse farm. ultimately, finding nothing. perhaps things will be different this time, soledad. >> perhaps they will. or perhaps not. susan candiotti for us this morning. let's go right to dan moldea, the author of "the hoffa wars." he's been following the story since jimmy hoffa disappeared. he talked with this new tipster recently. susan candiotti just was showing us pictures of a horse farm

being dug up. same reason. how legitimate do you think this tipster is? do you think there is a body under the driveway of this home? >> well, i think that horse farm, i continue to believe that was a very legitimate tip and the fbi continues to believe that that information was one of the best leads they've ever gotten. that -- that serge was cut short. with regard to this 2012 informant, he called me on march 30th. he told me a story. i've heard this dozens of times over the past 37 years. he's very specifically told me that it was jimmy hoffa who he believed was in -- in this grave. he -- i was skeptical because of the fact that the cast of characters didn't match up. for many of the reasons that susan described in her piece i agree with. that this is a very open area. this is a corner house with no fence. i mean, whatever happened was in full view of the neighbors, and any cars passing by. so i suggested that he go to the fbi.

the fbi was skeptical. he called me back. and complained about this. i suggested he go to the rosemont police department, which he did. chief james berlin has been doing a very professional job of investigating this. >> and now they're digging up the driveway. so i guess in some ways someone believed that he was credible. there are some things about this tipster, i know, even though i know you've expressed your doubt about whether the body is actually under that driveway, but there are some things about this tipster that you say at least make him a credible figure. what are they? >> well, he was a gambler who had a connection with a bookmaker who, as susan said in her report, was connected to tony giacalone. tony giacalone was a major mafia figure in detroit who died in 2001. but in 1975, he was one of the two people that jimmy hoffa was supposed to meet at the time he disappeared. so that's what intrigued us about all of this. and the police viewed him as credible enough to do what they're doing now. >> why is he coming forward now? i mean it seems all this time

has gone by. you seem very doubtful that it's actually jimmy hoffa's body under that driveway. explain why you think he's coming now. >> wire wondering -- they have the ground radar equipment and they have detected something there. it could be a dead body. if not hoffa then somebody else. or it could be the root of a tree. who knows. they're drilling holes into the concrete. they're going to try to find trace evidence. they're giving to the archaeologists and forensics people at michigan state university. and if they find that tissue, they're going to dig up the entire concrete and dig the hole to try to find everything they can find. >> before i let you go. what do you think happened to jimmy hoffa? >> three-act drama. different characters in each act. act one hoffa goes to the red fox. he's picked up. he's taken in act two to a private residence. act three he's dropped into a 55-gallon drum. he's murdered at his private residence. act three, he's dropped into a 55 gallon drum, he's shipped to an unknown destination where

he's incinerated. where he's crushed. >> wow so you think we will never find the body. >> and we know who did it. just we need the body. please, let's get the body. give people like me and the fbi off the hook after 37 years. >> you just described that i don't know that's ever going to happen. dan moldea investigative reporter and the author of "the hoffa wars." thanks for talking with us this morning. we're going to watch very closely to see what happens under that driveway. there's a family, john, living in that house. can you imagine? >> i can't -- i drove over that driveway for 30 years? >> all right. still ahead -- >> was that okay? >> perfect. still ahead this morning. congressman todd akin, infamous for his legitimate rape comment may have done it again. we'll tell you what he's saying about his opponent senator claire mccaskill and her debate tactics. it's our get real up next. "starting point" team heading into this morning. abby huntsman is back and richard socarides. we're back in just a moment.

welcome back to "starting point," i'm christine romans. minding your business this morning, u.s. stock futures are down. still have some concerns over europe's debt crisis this morning. today marks the end of the third quarter, and guess what? you don't have to be afraid of your 401(k) statement. at least this time. the s&p 500 is up about 6% over the past three months. president obama is now technically a net job creator. after government economists revised the data for 2011 it appears 125,000 net new jobs have been created since president obama took office. about 4.3 million jobs, of course, were lost in the first year of the president's term. the new data show about 4.4 million jobs have been added

back since then. mortgage rates hit record lows again. 30-year fixed rate mortgages fell to 3.4%. 15-year fixed, that's a popular refinancing tool, 2.73%. according to freddie mac. refinance if you're not under water. refinance. >> friends are going to refinance. they're doing fine, they're going to refinance. >> even over the past year. last year i was saying record low mortgage rates, 4 prps for a 30-year fixed. >> christine, thank you. our team this morning, jose baez is with us, attorney, author of "presumed guilty: casey anthony the inside story." he was the attorney on that case. abby huntsman, host of huffpost live. the daughter of governor jon huntsman. and richard socarides, former special adviser in the clinton white house. nice to have you all with us. i feel like long time no see. thank you. our get real this morning is all about congressman todd akin. sometimes he's our favorite person to talk about.

open mouth, insert foot for him. i think. again. akin was telling the kansas city star that the incumbent claire mccaskill, his democratic opponent, was much more lady-like back in 2006, in the debates back then. this time around he said she's much more aggressive, not as lady-like. in their first debate last week mccaskill was like a wildcat, that's his word. he believes it's because she feels threatened. missouri congressman, of course, is infamous for those legitimate rape comments last month. sometimes you feel like, just stay away from certain topics. >> women? >> right. >> girl and women thing. >> he's got a 50% problem of his own. >> which doesn't hurt him in the debate. >> he can't talk about half the population. >> he's polling well. >> there's something very interesting happening in that race which is a lot of the republicans who sort of abandoned him are coming back into the foltd. he's being endorsed by sitting senators. the republican senate committee isn't endorsing him but saying

if we had to choose, we'd choose todd akin. >> the problem with that is where the party is now. they're going for ideology over character. as a moderate republican it's frustrating to see that happen. >> you know, it's interesting -- >> old-fashioned thing to say but i think it might also really appeal to people who are old-fashioned republicans in missouri who are saying we think this guy is being unfairly attacked by the msm, main-stream media, and so what if he calls somebody lady-like. gentlemen should act like gentlemen, ladies should act like ladies. >> i think there's no horrible negative in saying someone is lady-like. the issue for me is anyone who comes out swinging in a debate is clearly not lady-like. >> i think in that context, and given what he said before, that it really is very damaging. and i think you're right, john is right, that people were starting to come back to him, but i think this is going to really hurt him. and i think that you will -- i think the three of you have handled this in a very lady-like manner. >> that's so nice. no one ever says that about me. i have literally never had anyone say -- >> you're very lady-like. how does that feel?

>> that bothers me. i don't want to be lady-like. >> i think you're a wildcat. >> a wildcat thing i kind of like. >> very lady-like. >> well behaved women rarely make history. >> completely agree with you, christine. it's not offensive. it's just like -- >> in the context of, he's running against a sitting u.s. senator who is a very dynamic, very powerful, very policy oriented, incredibly smart woman, and to reduce her -- >> it's not about her. it's about the voters, and the voters, if they like lady-like or not that's kind of the $64,000 question. >> i'm betting no. >> i'm not betting with you anymore. you always win. still ahead this morning on "starting point," israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu demanding a red line on iran before they get a nuclear weapon. but to some degree he seems like he's walking back the time line of that line. we'll talk about that this morning. and then some video of armed robbers who storm a jewelry store.

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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." we begin with john berman who has a look at the top stories. things are back to normal this morning at the busy jfk airport here in new york city after a bomb scare. normal as they ever get at jfk. terminal 4 was briefly evacuated yesterday afternoon. customs agents found what appeared to be a grenade-like item inside an incoming passengers luggage. he told the police the item was inert. it turned out to be a paperweight. police are trying to piece together the bizarre final moments of actor johnny lewis' life. investigators say the sons of anarchy star beat and strangled his 81-year-old landlady before falling from the three story home to his death. investigators say drugs may have been involved but as of now they

don't have any proof. >> there are several new drugs that are coming out after bath salts started to get outlawed. new drugs come out all the time and young people try new drugs all the time. that's one of the things our detectives are going to look into, whether he was using that or anything else. we don't know until the coroner is able to come through. >> the sons of anarchy creator called lewis' death a tragic end for an extremely talented guy who unfortunately had lost his way. voter protection groups are accusing florida election officials of reneging on an agreement to ease up on the purge of noncitizens from state voter rolls. florida's department of state sending a new list of 198 names to election supervisors yesterday, asking for them to be removed from the rolls. right now five voter protection groups are suing florida's secretary of state seeking an injunction against the purge program. for more than a year cnn has been investigating the impact of tough new voter laws in the 2012 election. you can see joe john's

documentary, voters in america, who counts, sunday october 14th, at 8:00 p.m. watch it. it is a good one. sledge hammer smash and grab. the fbi has released dramatic video of the suspects who oobed a saks fifth avenue store last week in boca raton, florida. the men ran inside the store about an hour before closing time, smashed into the display case and made off with the jewelry. one customer hid inside a locked closet and called 911. there is now a $5,000 reward for information about the suspects. this sounds like quite a pizza place. a pizza for adults only. why? because the toppings are infused with booze. salvatore chain of pizza shops in boston is serving up the vignolla pizza. it's topped with cherries soaked in raspberry vodka. >> we jazz the pizzas up. somebody said let's put booze on them. i'm like, that would be kind of cool. >> feel like i've heard that

before. let's put booze on them. >> in college. >> the restaurant will card anyone who orders it, soledad. >> but -- okay. i'm not going to say i know a lot about booze but the minute you put that pizza in the oven don't you burn off all the alcohol? >> we'll have to try. >> i know, clearly john. >> it's for late night shows only. anderson and piers will get it. >> thanks for the update. today, president obama is going to be making a very important phone call to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. it follows a week of heavy criticism against the president for not meeting with the prime minister in person. although he made several tv appearances and campaign stops. the president that is. on thursday the israeli prime minister met with secretary of state hillary clinton for more than an hour. which concluded an in-depth discussion, included, i should say, in-depth discussion on iran. that's a quote from their meeting. that followed netanyahu's blistering speech at the united nations general assembly, made it very clear israel would

demand a red line to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon. literally drawing that line in front of the audience. here's how it went. >> where should a red line be drawn? a red line should be drawn right here. before, before iran completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment necessary to make a bomb. >> the spokesman for the israeli prime minister netanyahu, nice to have you with us this morning. we appreciate your time. >> thanks for having me. >> earlier this week we were talking about the hostility that seemed to be there between the prime minister and the president. now we end the week with a speech from benjamin netanyahu, which uses the words, appreciation, and common goal. i'm going to play a little chunk of that speech and then i'll ask you a question on the other side. >> i very much appreciate the president's position, as does

everyone in my country. we share the goal of stopping iran's nuclear weapons program. this goal unites the people of israel, it unites americans, democrats and republicans alike, and it is shared by important leaders throughout the world. >> why are we seeing a change in tone from monday to friday? >> i think the media's responsible for the tone. we would never have used a word like hostile. i mean, it's just not true. we've got an ongoing dialogue, and ultimately the american position has been consistent. the united states says it will act to prevent iran from achieving a nuclear weapon, and that means if we're going to prevent them, you're going to do something beforehand. and so our position, and the united states' position are almost identical. and we have to continue talking to see what we can do to prevent the iranians from achieving a nuclear bomb. >> the term hostile as some media reports have put it really comes from some of these unnamed

israeli officials. so i'm not sure it's a media creation so much as interpreting what they're being told by top-level israeli officials, from the times of israel i'm going to read you a little bit. president clinton, they write, made us feel like -- this is a quote, rather, from the top israeli official. made us feel president clinton made us feel like he had our back when we made concessions that were greater than anything an israeli government had ever offered. we felt that he'd be there if things went bad. would he have been there? i don't know. but it felt that way. it put us in a different frame of mind. president obama doesn't give us the same sense that he'd be there. that may not be hostile but it certainly is doubting and not very happy about the relationship between the prime minister and the president. >> i don't believe that's an official view of what's going on between jerusalem and washington today. there's a common understanding that the iranian regime simply can cannot be allowed to achieve a nuclear weapon. let's look at the facts. this is a regime that brutally oppresses its own people. we saw that with student demonstrations not long ago. this is a regime that today is

on the ground in syria helping the syrian government massacre the syrian people in a very tangible, concrete manner. this is a regime that has been responsible for terrorist attacks in asia, in africa, in europe, and even here in the united states. now, if iran gets a nuclear weapon, that changes the world. that means the world's most dangerous regime links up with the world's most dangerous weapons. we all have an interest in that not happening. >> that's the common goal part of it. so are you saying the prime minister never felt like he'd been snubbed? >> correct. that's not true. we understood, we came here to new york because of the jewish holidays we only arrived yesterday. the president was here only at the beginning of the week. he'll be speaking as you said, on the phone today. we've got a good dialogue. we will continue to discuss this issue. and the most important thing is to stop iranian nuclear enrichment. >> talk about that red line, then, right. he sees it, as we saw when he did the demonstration, he sees it before the end of the second phase, when the purity enrichment at 20% purity he says

at that point there would be a few months to build a bomb and that would be the red line. the white house has said their red line is when the decision is made to build a nuclear weapon. how do those red lines match up? >> look, we see it this way. enriched uranium is the dynamite of the explosive. and the minute they have the dynamite, and the fuz, we don't want to wait for them just to put them together and have a bomb. we want them to prevent them from getting there. that means you've got to stop the enrichment. now, iran needs no enriched uranium. they don't have a single functioning reactor for electric power or something like that. it's only for a bomb. and so what we're saying is stop the enrichment. that will give us time, breathing space for diplomacy to kick in and then we can hopefully deescalate this crisis. but the most important thing is to stop enrichment. what's the problem? the iranians want to keep talking. they're happy to keep talking. why? because while they're talking the centrifuges keep spinning. >> the time line has changed now. we hear a different time line

being proposed if you read into the speech. the time line the words are, you know, by next spring. at most by next summer. at the current enrichment rates is what he talks about which pushes it past the presidential election. which many people thought was sort of a looming deadline. >> look we've been talking about this for more than 15 years. prime minister netanyahu's been talking about the iranian nuclear problem when he was in office, when he was out of office, when it was popular to talk about it, when it wasn't popular to talk about it. >> you're saying the deadline has never changed? >> no. we think there's a good chance that by this time next year they'll have enough enriched uranium for a bomb. the important thing is to act now so they don't get there. >> all right. thank you for talking with us this morning. >> my pleasure. >> mark regev is spokesperson for prime minister benjamin netanyahu. coaches paying players to hurt their opponents. that's the whole bounty system. we're not talking about the nfl and a bounty scandal. we're talking about pop warner football. 10-year-olds and 11-year-olds. really this is ridiculous.

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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." another football bound ki scandal. not in the never, among 10-year-olds and 11-year-olds who are playing pop warner football. two coaches with the tuston red cobras are suspended, suspected of offering the kids 20 bucks apiece for each crushing hit. here's a reporter from the orange county register who broke this story and the head coach who stands accused. >> all in all we now have six parents, and players saying that this happened six out of the team of about 22 confirming that this happened. so, there's little doubt --

there's no doubt in my mind that this happened. >> did you ever suggest or pay for a player to hurt a player on another team? >> absolutely not. i think that they're trumped up charges. nothing like that ever happened on my team. >> well, a read-through the article, and one father is quoted saying that his son said he won the prize. and then showed his dad a 20 dollar bill like, like prize? what do you mean the prize? you had a good, clean hit you won the play of the game. what prize? legally speaking -- >> it's child abuse. and also contributing to the datelielinquency of a minor. because it falls outside of the actual game. it's an intentional tort from one -- and to have an adult do it, and to head it up, it's a sign of being disgusting, it's criminal. >> isn't this why it's so important to have good examples at the top of a game in football? we see that these kids look up to these nfl players.

they see it's okay. this is kind of cool. >> is it the kids or is it the coaches? really, is it really the coaches stole the idea and not the kids. the kids feel like, hey, 20 bucks, that's awesome. i wonder if it's really the -- >> this is exactly what a bunch of nfl -- what an nfl team did what just recently, right? >> yeah. >> right, i mean, and, you know, it makes sense, right, that if you know, these are the heroes. the heroes are doing it. >> if this really happened it's bad coaching, it's bad parenting. it's just bad human being. any way you cut it, it's not good. >> it's been going on for years. there was a scandal in the university of miami many years ago, accusations of prizes for big hits. >> we already see the problem with mental health and concussions, and i feel like parents are going to be less likely to want to put their kids in football. >> football is going to change in the next ten years you're going to see a huge different -- basically a completely different

game than you do today. and you have in the past. i think a lot of attention is being drawn to that. >> because of those hits. all right. terrible story. all right still ahead 'tis morning on "starting point," mitt romney has vowed to repeal the health care law if he becomes president. so what does that mean for seniors on medicaid? dr. sanjay gupta is going to take an in-depth look at both candidates' health care plans. jack, you're a little boring. boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada...

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election day just 39 days away. before americans head to the polls, cnn is going in-depth on the topics that matter most to you. this morning on health care. dr. sanjay gupta has that.

>> reporter: since president obama's health care law was enacted. 3.1 million people under the age of 26 are now carried by their parents' plans and preventive care is carried 100% by insurance companies. seniors in particular, have benefitted on prescription drugs. >> seniors who fall in the coverage gap known as the donut hole will start getting some help. they'll receive 250 dollars to help pay for prescriptions and that will, over time, fill in the donut hole. >> reporter: 5.5 million seniors have saved a total of nearly $4.5 billion on prescription drugs since the law was enacted according to the health and human services department and plans to add to medicare spending. >> we did it by getting rid of taxpayer subsidies to insurance companies that weren't makeing people healthier. >> reporter: by 2014, the law requires everyone to have health

insurance whether they purchase it through themselves or their employers. insurers can't deny you if you have a pre-existing condition for raise your rates. it has become a cornerstone of the obama campaign. >> i refuse not to insure those who are poor and elderly and those with the most can pay less. >> reporter: romney says the affordable care act is unaffordable. >> it is too expensive. >> reporter: he wants obama-care gone including the drug prescription benefit for seniors but he wants to keep one of the most popular pieces of obama-care and doesn't say exactly how it works. >> we have to make sure people with pre-existing conditions are insured and folks that get sick don't get dropped by their insurance company. >> reporter: romney and his running mate paul ryan plan to cap malpractice insurance.

cut made daedicaid by $810 bill over the next 10 years, give states more control over medicaid funds. the overall, people under 55 have the option to get a voucher to purchase private insurance or they can stick with traditional medicare. >> this financial support system is designed to guarantee seniors can always afford medicare coverage, no exceptions. >> reporter: i tell you, we don't talk about medicaid as much as you know. a big part of obama-care is expand medicaid, give the states the option to expand the federal poverty level people can qualify for it. it costs money for the federal government and state government. the romney plan, we've been dissecting it, turns medicaid into a block program and let the states decide and ultimately, there's less dollars going into the program. >> since seniors are a large portion of the recipients of

medicaid, what happens to them? how are they affected? >> interesting, as a physician i've been looking it a. medicare for catherines and medicaid for people impoverished or have disabilities. 6 million seniors get medicaid as well called dually eligible. the area that impacts them the most is probably long term and nursing homecare. medicare covers a lot of things. one of the things it falls shorter is in that nursing homecare. if you're a senior that falls within that poverty guideline and you need nursing homecare, medicaid is often where that source of money comes from. i think those people will be affected the most. >> sanjay gupta, thanks. next more in-depth look at the candidates' plans on sanjay gupta md. and the refs back getting rock star treatment at least within the first four minutes. and the commissioner finally

weighing in on that blown call by the replacement ref that initiated an uproar. is jimmy hoffa really under a driveway of a suburb man michigan home? [ male announcer ] we got a real mom

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good morning. welcome, everybody to our "starting point" this morning. lowering expectations. is mitt romney already preparing for defeat before the debates

even start. a surprising new memo from citizen says surrogates are ready for the worst yet it could be just spin. a return of the refs. last night's game looked similar to sunday's botched game. did the refs make the right calls this time. and newly released recordings from president kennedy's oval office give insight into moments like the cuban missile crisis. >> how advanced is this? >> sir, wave never seen this kind of installation before. >> not even in the soviet union? >> those recordings just ahead. not just a talented basketball player, tyson chandler has another passion, photograph photography. friday, september 28th, "starting point" begins right now. welcome. jose baze, with us, casey

anthony, the inside story, and abby huntsman, daughter of governor jon huntsman. and richard soccarides. i'm getting over a cold, come on, people. and special advisor in the clinton white house and lawyer, john berman, host of "early start." and mitt romney will meet with voters in pennsylvania just days away. mitt romney or his campaign trying to lower expectations. we have seen the same thing on the president obama side as well. there's new in information obtained by cnn where he tells surrogates there are several reasons why the president will likely win the first debate. this will be the eighth one-on-one presidential debate for him and for mitt romney, it

will be his first. select i selecting president obama's national re-election campaign, nice to see you. we have been talking about in the last hours, the republicans doing this on the gop side, kind of the same thing is happening on the democratic side. let's play a little tape. >> mitt romney, i think, has an advantage because he's been through 20 of these debates in the primaries over the last year. he even bragged that he was declared the winner in 16 of those debates. i think in that sense, having been through this much more recently than president obama, i think he starts with an advantage. >> here's what the obama campaign spokeswoman said yesterday, i will just take this opportunity to say that mitt romney has been preparing earlier and with morphocuss than any presidential candidate in modern history, not john f. kennedy, not president bill clinton, president george bush not ronald reagan has prepared as much as he has so no question

he will have a lead on how prepared he is. you would seeing that think president obama has never navigated a single successful debate. aren't they lowering the bar. you lower expectations so if anybody does pretty well, you win the game, you win the debate? >> the facts are the facts. what we remember from the republican nominating process, as much as i didn't want to watch them, i found myself watching them because i was amazed at the things going on. one after another, romney did seem to win and declared the winner by most of the pundits. in the end, it's about both of them going out there and doing the best they can. >> it's also how people perceive it as well. if you look at a cnn roc poll that talks about who's more likely to win the debates. obama, 59% believe he will win the debate, mitt romney, 34%

believe. that has to be a concerning number, right, if the expectation is very high, if you don't meet or reach above that, you have a problem. are you worried about that? >> my guess is what people are really saying, they believe president obama really understands their issues, their concerns, he has a better plan for the future. >> governor, i have to stop you right there, i will stop you right there. that's not what they're saying in the poll, honestly, please. it was so smooth, it was so smooth and yet so ridiculous, i have to stop you in the middle, what they were asked is who is more likely to win the debate, 59%, a very healthy majority said it will be president obama. my question is with all that expectation overwhelmingly he is going to win, that's problematic, isn't it? >> in the end, the amount of time we spend talking about debates itself is interesting to me. they're both going to go out and do what they can.

the -- mitt romney has spent a lot more time for these debates, had all the debates earlier this year. the president is a good communicator, no question, but in terms of debate one-on-one, romney had a lot more experience getting ready for this. >> in terms of debate one-on-one, the president has done eight and mitt romney has done one in terms of presidential debates. here's this beth myers memo. four years ago barack obama faced john mccain on the debate stage, according to gallup voters judged him the winner by double digit margins and on one won it by an astounding 33 point margin. >> he's done this a lot, good at it and will be the winner. do you think it's as simple if you win the debate, you can win the election here? >> i think it's a lot more than that. people are going to -- people are looking for somebody to be

president and a good president, looking for somebody that understands the concerns of the middle class, looking for somebody who has a plan to build an economy for the middle class. in the end, that's what this will come down to. the debates are an important moment but a lot more than who wins one debate or another debate. >> what do you think obama's biggest challenge will be? what are his advisors telling him? getting him to speak off-the-cuff? is that his biggest challenge? >> look, i think you never know what questions are going to be asked, certainly the president has not asked for, you know, my advice or what i expect he will. he has a very good message to tell. i'm hoping what comes through the debate, everybody remembering what a difficult situation he inherited losing 750,000 jobs a month and now had 30,000 job growth. that's really the story. my hope is the president his

plenty of opportunities during the debates to make sure that message gets out there. >> i actually think the romney campaign is right. i think president obama is good at this. >> a former clinton advisor. >> i think president obama is good at this. romney has more practice, better practice, more loose about this. president obama will probably not make a mistake. i think he is favored and i think people are looking for governor romney, any little mistake he makes, people biwillo after it. said to governor markell, you're looking pretty good going into this. >> why not come across strong? >> that's an interesting question. jose just said, why try to be the underdog, we see it on both sides, i guess i sort of understand the value. why do that? >> to the effect the president has an advantage and to the extent your poll shows that, i think it's because people

believe he has a better stronger message. so much of the debate is who has the stronger message. the president has a better message. >> i'm not so sure the polls say that. i'm not sure the poll says that. i think the poll says whether do you think is more likely to win the debate and not asking who has a better message that will be reflected in the debate. >> i tell you what, romney has to win the substance debate, one area he has to win to be successful. >> thank you, governor markell. go ahead, i'm sorry. >> that will be very difficult. >> despite he is a -- the poll -- this is why the debate is such a farce. >> thank you, sir. thank you for being with us. i'm sure we will keep talking about the debate, there's a bunch of them in our future. cnn will have complete coverage of the first presidential debate happening next wednesday.

watch it live on cnn and cnn.com starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern. there are other stories making news today outside of debate prep. john berman has it. >> debates are not on curves. even football games. the refs returned after the lockout and they got a standing ovation from fans, the last time before that happens before the game. this game featured no controversy, thankfully. terrorists behind the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, that conclusion reached by the obama administration now more than two weeks after the attack. four ambassadors includi including -- four were killed including ambassador chris stevens were kills. >> what terrorists were involved needs to be determined by the investigation. it clearly was a group of terrorists who conducted that attack against that facility.

>> meanwhile, staff is being removed from the u.s. embassy in tripoli due to security reasons. the man who made the anti-muslim field that sparked protests across the world is in custody this morning but they say it's not because of the movie. nakoula basseley nakoula was on conviction from bank fraud and was ordered not to use a fantastic name and he used a fake name in the film against muslims. a new hunt for jimmy hoffa again, vanished 37 years ago, a tipster claims to have seen a body being buried at that house in roseville, michigan around the same time jimmy hoffa disappeared. check out president obama talking jobs. >> who here has a job. here we go. there we go. what do you do, sir?

>> i'm a manager at burger king. >> there you go! have an hoa. and where were you four years ago? probably working the counter, right? >> i was a vice president for bank of america. >> no matter what happens the debate of saturday night live will win the election. >> yes. as they did four years ago. there are newly released secret recordings from president kennedy's oval office that give insight into historic moments like the cuban missile crisis. >> how advanced is this? >> sir, we've never seen this kind of installation before. >> not even in the soviet union? >> the calmness with which they're speaking really belies how anxiety ridden this entire debate was. a historian who released the clips will talk with us next. also, are you a sam adams fan or maybe a dosece's fan?

are you just a fan of beer, john berman? apparently your favorite brew could say a lot about your politics. coming up. according to a new poll, new jersey voters actually support a proposed law that will require dog owners to put their animals in a safety restraint or crate or in the car. you have to have your dog in the car with a seatbelt on. more bad news for mitt romney. everyone has goals. take the steps to reach yours, with us with real advice, for real goals. the us bank wealth management advisor can help you. every step of the way. from big steps, to little steps. since 1863 we've helped guide our clients, so they can take the steps to help grow, preserve, and pass along their wealth. so their footsteps can help the next generation find their own path.

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[ laughing ] when we got married. i had three kids. and she became the full time mother of three. it was soccer, and ballet, and cheerleading, and baseball. those years were crazy. so, as we go into this next phase, you know, a big part of it for us is that there isn't anything on the schedule.

oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. welcome back to "starting point reques point." i'm christine romans. stocks are down. today marks the end of the third quarter, you don't have to be afraid of your statement for now. the stock market is up over the

past three months. taking away one talking point from the republicans, president obama is now a net job creator after economists revised the data. now appears 125,000 net new jobs have been created since obama took office. about 4.3 million jobs were lost in his first year and 4.4 million jobs have been added back since then. mortgage rates hit record lows. the 30 year fixed rate, 3.4% and 15 year fix the rate now 2.73%. this is according to freddie mac and this is exactly what the fed said it wanted to do, keep rates low. it has been 15 years since jfk was president but newly released tapes inside of the val office offer a revealing look inside his presidency and personal glimpse as well. look at candidate kennedy before he was elected president speaking candidly with his

friend, journalist, bill bradley. >> did you have any remote idea, jack that when you ran for congress in 1946 that you would run for president? >> no, i didn't. >> remote? not even when you went to bed? >> never, never, never. i thought i'd be governor of massachusetts some day. they installed hidden rec d recording systems in the oval office and cabinet as well. as a result, 265 hours of recordings and the new book is called "listening in." so remarkable even to hear that conversation with ben bradley. >> we historians fantasize about being a fly on the wall. now, we can be. these tape recordings are sophisticated and picked up extremely important conversations and now americans can listen in. >> what was the goal of the conversations? did he know history would need this? >> i think so.

it was never said, a closely held secret. a tiny number knew. most of his top advisors had no idea. he loved history, won a pulitzer for profiles encourage and i think beginning to write his memoirs for that long in the future day he wouldn't be president anymore and wanted to capture the raw stuff of what was happening. >> some of the raw stuff happened at times where literally the nation was on edge about what happened next, specifically the cuban missile crisis. let's play the next piece tell me about it. >> sir, we've never seen this kind of installation before. >> even in this soviet union? >> nos. but from may of '60, we have never had any u-2 coverage of the soviet union. >> how do you know this is a medium range ballistic missile? >> the length, sir. >> what do you think it tells us? reveals about him as a president

managing in a crisis? >> he was great in a crisis and especially strong in the cuban missile crisis and the entirety is captured on these tapes. you can't write about it without listening. that moment is the first time he's hearing about the missiles october 16th. we have a new 10 second fragment has never been heard, was off-limits, reveals his daughter, caroline, coming into the room and laughing with him a little bit before this extremely serious meeting starts. >> can i ask, what are the biggest surprises on these tapes about him as a person? anything surprise you? i'm interested also caroline kennedy helped you with this, right? she wrote the introduction. what surprised her? >> i can't answer for her. what surprised me was the length of the work day. long days covering every issue under the sun. some of great importance like the cuban missile crisis, a lot of domestic politics, meetings

with senators to try to get his agenda through. throughout, his capacity to learn. he was a decisive president, you get that feeling but also evolving in the way we hope our presidents do. on civil rights, especially, there was a lot of movement from 1962, when the tapes start to 1963. it was all changing. the white house had swung very much behind the civil rights movement in the fall of 1963. >> he was very involved in the minut minutia, like our other boss, president clinton. >> exactly. incredible moment in august 28th, 1963, the great martin luther king speech "i have a dream" had just happened and they had a political strategy session where president kennedy went through all the members of the house and senate and what he thought their likelihood was to support civil rights. it was clear, he was on their side, driving it forward. >> there's a little clip that exposes a personal side of the

president as well. let's play that. >> i wanted to do back to jordan marsh. >> all right, sir. i want that follow's incompetent who had his picture taken in next to mrs. kennedy's bed. he is a silly bastard. i wouldn't have him running a cat house. >> he is furious over a $5,000 bill for a hospital room, right? sn>> a timely expenditure built for a legitimate reason in case his wife went into labor. he is furious at the waste and the possibility this would get picked up by the media. he is chewing out a subordinate and "the silly bastard has been located and is in the book and i have located him. >> we will learn who he is?

>> i don't remember his name. >> the book is called "listening in." the tapes are amazing as well. appreciate it. ahead this morning, a question for you. are you a heineken drinker? sam adams man or woman? your preference could reveal who you will vote for. up next. so when i heard that american express and twitter were teaming up, i was pretty interested. turns out you just sync your american express card securely to your twitter account, tweet specific hashtags, and you'll get offers on things you love. this totally changes the way i think about membership. saving money on the things you want. to me, that's the membership effect. nice boots!

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welcome back, everybody. our tough call this morning. what kind of beer do you drink, richard? >> i don't drerng beer. wine. >> jose? >> i drink heinekin and sam adams. i'm on both sides. >> john? >> i drink a lot of light beer because i have to write my figure. but fat tire out of colorado.

my sister works there, love it. >> i don't know about fat tire. people who drink sam adams strongly republican, more likely to vote. heineken voters staunch ly democratic. and but light, non-partisan and dos equis middle of the road. >> there are four republicans roughly in massachusetts. >> i'm more of heineken, not a huge beer drinker. >> i was of the opinion you are not a beer drinker. >> i am not but if i had a choice, i'd pick a heineken. >> fruit flavored beers? >> fruit flavored beers? i'm not a beer drinker and didn't know about that. >> they margaret to certain segments. the look of the product, the advertising, it all says

something about who they are going after. >> it makes since, still correlated to who you will try to get as a consumer. >> as a balanced news reporter, i drink all of them. >> i try to be non-biased and drink as many different beers as i can. >> he's a star on the court. tyson chandler showing off his other skills behind the camera, joining us live straight ahead. what went on behind the closed doors of the financial crisis, how president obama tried to restore the economy and failed.

overwhelm overwhelmingly overwhelming. mistakening major majors major

messages expectation

welcome back. you're watching "starting point." to john berman for a look at today's top stories. >> president obama will place a call to benjamin netanyahu

today, the first time they have spoken since the consulate attack in libya. and netanyahu spoke to the u.n. about the red line. earlier, we talked to the spok spokesman about the america american-israel relationship. >> the united states has been consistent and said it will act to prevent a nuclear weapon and if you're going to prevent it, it means you will do something before hand. our position and the united states position are almost identical. we have to continue talking to see what we can do to prevent the iranians from achieving a nuclear bomb. >> almost identical. interesting. n netanyahu warns it will be too late if something isn't done. i should add mitt romney will speak to netanyahu as well.

thoses who family members were killed in the theater will have until today to visit. the theater should reopen around the end of the year. another morning at the new york jfk busy airport but busy yesterday. a bomb scare called for one terminal to be evacuated and they foulednd a grenade-type it. the passenger told them the item was fake and it was advocated anyway and turned out it was a paper weight. and a trivia question on who wants to be a millionaire. take a look. >> what tv personality has been named one of the top 100 irish americans and also a member of the national association of

hispanic journalists? erin burnett, soledad o'brien, neil ca vut t-cavuto, rachel maddow. >> i said i wouldn't guess. top 100 irish americans and hispanic. it sounds like soledad o'brien. >> my god, soledad o'brien. how could you not get that? like really. >> the question is out-of-play. i'm sure the answer -- you were right. soledad o'brien. that's okay. i understand. >> how much did she lose? >> she lost out on 10 grand. do you believe that? >> soledad o'brien. hispanic and irish. how hard was that? oh, well. next time, i guess. president obama is nearing the end of his first term and despite his promise in 2008 to bring the two parties together, the past 3 1/2 years have been plagued by partisan gridlock.

in his new book, the price of politics. bob woodward puts the focus squarely on the relationship between the president and republican house speaker john boehner saying their inability to make meaningful compromise has left many of the nation's problems unaddressed. there was so much effort, most of it sincere, but so little result. americans are now left with a still struggling economy in the midst of a struggling election, it's a wort of status quo but only worse. >> i see you have a picture of bob woodruff of abc up there. we get mixed up all the time. >> what? >> yes. >> in spite of that -- >> it's just like you. no one knows your identity. >> come on. this is your 17th book. you've been in the business a really long time. we had the wrong graphic for you? that's insane. >> would say you're fairly well-known in these circles. >> he had that accident in iraq

and was seriously injured. i kept getting e-mails from people saying are you all right? >> he is all right, by the way. >> he has really record and somebody who's taken the experience of iraq and set up this foundation with his wife and helping wounded warriors. >> one day we'll have him on the show but today we have your new book. how did you get access? you are renowned for your notetaking an in-depth interviews and the scope of the people you talk to? >> i had the luxury of 18 months to work on this book and get the notes and the memos, interviewed the president for an hour and a half a couple of months ago for this, stepping through exactly what happened. to a certain extent, it's a legal wiretap into the white house, so you can see exactly

what happened. the evolution of this and in a sense, the bottom line is it's hard on obama and the democrats and it's hard on the republicans also. there is a war going on in each party. it's not been resolved. the people who get the short straw are those of us who live in this country because they haven't fixed the basic issue of the financial house of the u.s. government. we have too much debt and there's too much spending. we're going to go off the cliff some day if we don't get a handle on this. >> let' begin where the book begins, which is highlighting conflicts between the white house and republicans with the stimulus bill and health care. everyone is looking very closely at the polls and who could win and who could potentially lose. here's what you write. the polls certainly look good for obama now. to counter that means there is no easier to compromise and appoint some on the left. as he listens, obama's tone

seems to change. elections of consequences and, eric, i won. talk to me about the conflict and the clash at this point? >> cantor is the majority leader in the house. much closer to the tea party and conservative than speaker john boehner. this is part of the war. you see in this, in, i think, the president is tuned in to his own ambivalences. he realizes they have to cut spending, they have to do something the republicans have been harping on. at the same time, as the president said to me, we have to worry about the vulnerable populations on medicare, medicaid, other entitlement programs. so in the end, there's a political calculation, let's postpone everything and both the democrats and the republicans, and particularly, president obama decide that.

when you look at the numbers and the future we face, it's perilous. it is a time to just simply put, we're going to have to go borrow trillions of dollars on the global debt market next year. how do we do that when they couldn't do it last year? they couldn't reach some sort of agreement to say, kind of the joe biden way, one for you, one for me? everyone was locked in their dogma? >> in the beginning, not in the beginning of the book but in the beginning of obama coming into office, he really -- there was a sense boehner and obama could work together. >> yes. >> that ended relatively quickly. what happened? >> it did. it ended -- boehner reached out to the president. they had lots of meetings. i described their private meetings in detail. as boehner said, at one of the first meetings, the president

was cidrinking iced tea and chewing on an nicorette because of his smoking habit and there's boehner over there having a cigarette and red wine, merlot. in a since, they made some progress, but they did not get there. i chart in thousand of words the exact negotiations, the phone calls. you see something that didn't get fixed. i is an i term shame it didn't get fixed. >> why after this research it is harder today to make deals. you see the history of this, people are able to make deals when there are real people sitting across from each other. what is it about this moment or people that makes it impossible? >> part of it is the tea party and the republican house particularly, where they don't want to compromise at all, where they do not want anything that looks like a tax increase.

but also on the democratic side and the president, he does not want to cut these entitlement programs, think out of conviction but also out of politics. he's made the political calculation, there are all these people in the entitlement programs and if he's going to be the one standing firm, it will help him in his re-election effo effort. when he's proposing cutting medicare, the health insurance program for the elderly takes care of more than 50 million people. nancy pelosi goes to the oval office and says if you're thinking of cutting that, you are going to make the republicans look the same. we are going to -- we're going to eliminate the distinction. you are going to make the republicans whole on the paul ryan budget, which was going to change at some point medicare. the president and the democrats said, okay, let's push this off to the future. but you can only do that so long. >> that's why it's called "the

price of politics," what really we at the end of the day are paying for this negotiations. the book is fantastic. bob woodward. the real bob woodward. nice to see you, sir. thanks for coming in to talk to us. we appreciate it. next, the new york knicks big man tyson chandler is joining us talking behind the camera as well helping kids overseas. up next. [ female announcer ] born from the naturally sweet monk fruit, something this delicious could only come from nature. now from the maker of splenda sweeteners, discover nectresse. the only 100% natural, no-calorie sweetener

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welcome back, everybody. new york knicks star tyson chandler has had quite a year after leading the knicks to their second straight playoff berth, he battled alongside kobe bryant and lebron james to win a medal at the london olympic games. he didn't stop there. immediately after the games, he flew to tanzania for unicef and

auctioned off the photos and joins us with carol, ceo of unicef. you get a gold medal. i will guess, having interviewed a bunch of your colleagues after the olympic games they went and took a break because you get a break in the season. you went to tanzania, why? >> i wanted to see what was going on out there. before i left, i had a meeting with unicef. if i want to be speaking about something, i want to know exactly what i'm speaking about. wanted to go out there and see what was going on. >> talk to me, carol, about tanzania. >> even to your first point, i thought it was awesome, while everyone went to get their glory parade, tyson goes to save kids. unbelievable. >> why did you want him to see tanzania? >> we really wanted him to see the field. see what difference of poverty in a developing nation is all

about. to be able to touch kids and talk to the kids and feel what's really happening out there so he could come back and use the power of his podium to talk about it. >> what did you see? what was your experience? >> i saw a lot of kid obviously going through tough things in life. the thing i took back was how courageous they were to stand up, tell their story. a lot of them have tear jerking stories, things they're dealing with. we really take for granted. trying to go to school. >> there's a huge amount of children that live with hiv in tanzania. >> we went to a clinic and spoke with women dealing with hiv. they were trying to create a support group to help get the word out about hiv and things that they can do to help the childr children, not come down with hiv. >> we have amazing photos you took in tanzania. i want to show everyone about that while i ask about your photography skills. if i went up to everybody and said, tyson chandler, list his

skills for me. i don't think anybody would have said he's an amazing photographer. how long have you been doing that? >> about five years now. gotten more serious the last couple of years, coming to new york. my buddy is out here and he's really been helping and guiding through the whole process. snow fantastic. you were able to take some of those prints and leverage another great thing for unicef. >> absolutely. the proceeds from the prints are going to save children's lives. >> what were the kids' reactions? i'm looking at these photos, you're playing basketball with some of them. it's the cutest thing! >> it was such a great time. it was great to be able to allow them to forget for just maybe a couple minutes. snow that's what it looks like in the photos. >> we really enjoyed it. a soccer goalie, we had the basketball clinic and i was trying to teach some of the kids how to play basketball. there's more football out there, our soccer. >> speaking of basketball, can

we talk about the knicks for a minute? november. how does it look? what do you think? >> i'm excited. we have a nice group of veteran guys who have won in the past. >> jeremy lin, a dear friend of yours not there anymore. >> he's now in houston, i feel like he will have success out there. he brought an energy to the garden that was amazing. >> good luck. we will be watching, caryn stern, the ceo of unicef. thanks. we appreciate it. got to take a break. still ahead, the vatican is adding to doubts jesus was married after a professor found claims she found proof jesus had a wife. with moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts.

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[ female announcer ] pop in a whole new kind of clean. with tide pods. just one removes more stains than the 6 next leading pacs combined pop in. stand out. welcome back to "starting point," everyone. nasa scientists say they may have new evidence of water on mars. rocks in the water where the curiosity rover landed last month show signs being formed in the presence of water and think the water could have been been ankle and hip deep.

not on tyson chandler who walked out. not buying a harvard professor's claim she found ancient scripture that jesus reported my wife. it was written in coptic on the papy papyrus fabric and they say that is fake. shining the spotlight on the top cnn ter rows of 2012 as you vote for the one that inspires you the most, go to c cnnheroes.com. this one is risking her life to help young girls in afghanistan get an education. here's the story. >> in afghanistan, most of the girls have no voice. they are used as property of a family. the picture is very grim. my name is razia john and i am the founder of a girl's school in afghanistan. when we opened the school in

2008, 90% of them could not write their name. today, 100% of them are educated. they can read, they can write. i lived in the u.s. for over 38 years but i was really affected by 9/11. i really wanted to prove muslims are not terrorists. i came back here in 2002. girls have been the most oppressed and i thought i have to do something. it was a struggle in the beginning. i would sit with these men and i would tell them, don't marry them when they're 14 years old. they want to learn. >> how do you write your father's name? >> after five years now, the men, they are proud of their girls. one day they can't write their name. still, we have to take precautions. some people are so much against girls getting educated.

we provide free education to over 350 girls. i think it's like a fire. it will grow. every year, my hope becomes more, think i can see the future. >> don't forget to vote for your cnn hero at cnnheroes.com. points up next. back in a moment. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. and those well grounded. for what's around this corner... and the next.

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45 seconds remaining, what's the take away from the day? richard, will let you start. >> i will say the take away is the week that the election slipped away from governor mitt romney.